Audio 8:49
China uses mysterious Australian to rig Congress coverage

Stephen McDonellUpdated
Sun 18 Nov 2012, 5:33 PM AEDT

Tomorrow in Beijing will see the dawning of a new era, when the Politburo Standing Committee reveals itself to the world. There's been much about this Congress that could fairly be described as really just a piece of theatre, including the role of a mysterious 'journalist' from Australia who's been thrust into the limelight.

Transcript

MARK COLVIN: Tomorrow in Beijing will see the dawning of a new era, in theory, when the Politburo Standing Committee reveals itself to the world. But before that could take place there was a final session this afternoon of the current Communist Party Congress.

More than 2,200 delegates took part in a series of rubber-stamp votes that were always guaranteed to pass. In fact, there's been much about this Congress that could fairly be described as really just a piece of theatre, including the role of a mysterious 'journalist' from Australia who's been thrust into the limelight.

China correspondent Stephen McDonell reports from the Great Hall of the People.

(Hu Jintao speaking)

STEPHEN MCDONELL: President Hu Jintao called on delegates at the closing session of the Communist Party Congress to cast their votes over a series of matters. Then they went around the cavernous Great Hall of the People.

(Congress convenor speaking)

STEPHEN MCDONELL: Any dissenters?

DELEGATE: Meiyou.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: No.

DELEGATE 2: Meiyou.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: No.

DELEGATE 3: Meiyou.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: No. And on it went with every vote - unanimous. Personnel appointed; reports endorsed.

The gathering is now technically over and tomorrow the new cabinet - the Politburo Standing Committee - will be revealed. Covering these Congresses, you see a lot which could reasonably be described as a stage-managed presentation designed to engender faith in the Communist Party.

A key way to do this is to rig press conferences at the Congress by only answering pre-vetted questions from supportive Chinese journalists.

So normally people sit up and listen when a foreign correspondent manages to get a question in because, well, it might actually be a real one, and that was the case when Australian 'journalist' Andrea Yu was chosen to speak at the Tianjin delegation's meeting.

Her question went something like: 'Melbourne and Tianjin are sister cities - can you outline some of the ways that cultural exchanges can be increased?' It's this type of hard questioning that's been coming from Andrea Yu throughout the Congress.

Zhang Ping is the chair of China's powerful economic policy department, the NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission). He also had a press conference and there she was.

ANDREA YU: I'm from global CAMG media International, based in Australia. The Australian Government is...

STEPHEN MCDONELL: Apart from Taiwan, the only question that Zhang Ping took from a foreign 'reporter' was from Andrea Yu of CAMG.

Did she ask if China was happy with the price it was paying for Australian iron ore? Did she ask if Chinese companies were satisfied with the restrictions placed on them investing in Australia?No - this was her question.

ANDREA YU: Mr Zhang, please tell us what policies and plans the Chinese government will be implementing in cooperation with Australia.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: Now maybe it shouldn't really matter if a 'journalist' from Australia wants to ask Dorothy Dixer-type questions of Chinese officials - except that she doesn't actually work for an Australian company at all.

ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Commission) searches reveal that she works for a company based in Melbourne but which is actually majority-owned from China. CAMG has close links to Chinese government-controlled media organisations and supplies Beijing-friendly radio programmes to community stations in Australia.

Andrea Yu was at the Great Hall of the People again today, and spoke to PM.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: Is it a little disingenuous for you to be up here I suppose with the appearance of being an independent international journalist when really you're working for a Chinese company?

ANDREA YU: Yes, that's a good question. It is interesting, and a lot of people have asked me about that. The fact is, I chose to be employed by them, and I'm representing their company.

So when I ask questions in press conferences and anything like that, I'm representing the company as well as representing Australia.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: The company though, it's controlled from Beijing, right?

STEPHEN MCDONELL: And is that from the Chinese government, Chinese government companies?

ANDREA YU: We have a partnership with CRI, Chinese Radio International, which does have a fairly large connection to the government, yes.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: Because I mean you could say that it's as if the Chinese government has brought you up here as a sort of friendly journalist to essentially ask itself questions that it likes about its own performance.

ANDREA YU: Yes, you could say that, but you could only say that if you knew who my company was and we are fairly, I would say, not very well-known at this stage.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: Here's the Chinese government, they're inviting someone up here - they know that you're working essentially for them, and you're coming up here and asking them questions about their own performance. Isn't that right?

ANDREA YU: I really don't know if I can answer that question accurately, the way you're wanting me to answer it. I know you're looking for a certain answer here, but...

ANDREA YU: No, my answer is that I think it's a very large system and I honestly don't believe that people within the Chinese government knew beforehand who I am and who I'm working for.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: They didn't know that you're essentially working for them?

ANDREA YU: No.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: Would it be an accurate parallel to say - for example, if the Australian government set up a company in China to feed stories into Chinese radio programs and then in the middle of the election in Australia, invited someone that they're essentially employing back to Australia to ask the Australian Prime Minister how well she's managing the China-Australia relationship - would that be an accurate parallel to what you're doing?

ANDREA YU: I don't know, because the Australian government is very different to the Chinese government. I don't think it's appropriate to make a direct comparison there, so...

STEPHEN MCDONELL: But is it real journalism, what you're doing?

ANDREA YU: Um, I've only just started. I'm very new to this, so I'm learning as I go.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: So you're not quite sure if it is?

ANDREA YU: Ah, no, I would call it - I wouldn't call it hard news, I wouldn't call it that, OK, I'm not going to be kidding myself there, but I'm very glad for the opportunity that I've had to come here and learn what I have.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: You don't feel though, potentially, that you're being used by the Chinese government to show that there's something going on that really isn't happening?

ANDREA YU: It's something that I think a lot of foreigners have to think about when they come here. It's also very difficult because...

STEPHEN MCDONELL: But what do you think about it though? Do you feel that you're being used in that way?

ANDREA YU: Well, it's been a bit difficult because there are layers. When I first entered my company, there's only a certain amount of understanding I have about its connections to the government. I didn't know it had any, for example.

So I find out more and more as time goes on. It's quite difficult as a foreigner, when you first, at least for me in the last month, to know exactly because you get told things not all at the beginning, so that side of it is challenging.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: Well maybe I could ask you this way - it's not a coincidence that they keep choosing you to ask questions at the press conferences, is it.

ANDREA YU: I don't think I would say that it's not a coincidence because they had already asked me the previous day.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: Because they know they're going to get an easy question from you, though, don't they?

ANDREA YU: I think that's part of it, yes.

STEPHEN MCDONELL: So in the long run, do you think that this will be more the way things will happen, that the Chinese government will be having sort of set up companies like yours all over the world to present itself in the way it wants to?

ANDREA YU: It's a very hard question and I don't know how long I'll be doing this for because of that. Yes, that it is a very challenging question. I think certainly spreading Chinese government soft power around the world via avenues like this is very important to the government and...

STEPHEN MCDONELL: And that's essentially what your company's doing, is that right?

ANDREA YU: Well, you see it's very difficult for me to say, because I'm still - I've been with my company for about a month, OK, so it's quite difficult for me to know exactly how things work. But I am aware that I can't ask the hard questions that I may personally be interested in asking because of who I'm representing.

MARK COLVIN: Andrea Yu, from CAMG, speaking to our China correspondent Stephen McDonell at the Great Hall of the People today.